The Truth About Strength and Beauty
by Dorku No Renkinjutsushi
Summary: It's a woman's world. Pity the man who doesn't understand this. 20 Truths story, Kunoichi


**Title:** The Truth About Strength And Beauty  
**Author:**Dorku no Renkinjutsushi  
**Group:** Kunoichi  
**Rating:** PG-15  
**Warnings/Disclaimer/Summary:** Mentions of things like rape, only reason for rating, really. _Naruto_ is the property of Kishimoto-sensei. I don't have his specific permission to take the ladies out for a night on the town, but I'm rather sure he won't mind.

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1. All kunoichi are female ninja, but not all female ninja are kunoichi. Some people just aren't able or willing or aren't strong enough to sacrifice everything and receive nothing in return.

No one can blame them.

2. No kunoichi will ever admit to ever having padded her bra. But they've all done it. Temari was probably the worst of them all.

By the time she was nine, she had men eating out of the palm of her hand when she wore the right clothes.

3. No kunoichi will admit to ever having wrapped her chest flat. They've all done it, though. Tsunade was probably the worst. Unlike most girls, she actually had something that required wrapping. She hated it, but she knew it saved her life, more than once.

Her first act as Hokage was to make the wrappings required.

4. In the interest of creating well-built spies, all girls are offered a break when their hormones start to kick in, to give the fat pads in the breasts a chance to develop.

Those who actually take the break usually spy, using their cleavage to gather secrets. Those who don't usually process the information, or fight in the field where a chest would be just one more thing to aim at.

5. It's generally around this time that the male associates of kunoichi begin to learn important Things about women. These Things frequently have to do with jokes about size, weight, appearance, or _that_ time of the month.

They learn that kunoichi have amazing aim, as well as access to many, many sharp pointy things.

6. It's required by law that a girl have her maidenhead removed by the time she is fourteen, or when she begins to work the field, whichever comes first. To the med-nin, it's an extremely common procedure. Theoretically, it helps the girls who will later have to enter men's beds for secrets.

The year Kakashi graduated, a nine year old lost her physical virginity. Rin wasn't much older.

7. As Tsunade helps the first of the Rookie Nine to be raped (a sobbing 17 year old Ino) to wash the stink of her rapist away, she's glad that that law exists. At least Ino's rapist couldn't take _that_ from her.

Later, as she helps Sakura do a rape kit on an eleven year old genin, she wonders about whether or not she could maybe lower the age.

8. To kunoichi, beauty is little more than a tool. From the time they are six, they learn how to seduce a man for his secrets. Tenten is the absolute worst.

She knows more state secrets than anyone else alive.

Mostly because she kills them after she has the secrets.

9. Beauty is also an asset. Kunoichi learn to hide this, and use it only for special days. And so they hide, diamonds in the rough, but dangerous ones. Temari really _is_ the worst for this.

The first time she brought down her hair, put on make-up and a fancy kimono, and unbound her chest, her own brothers didn't recognise her.

10. At the same time, quiet beauty—and the ability to blend in—are important, too. Tsunade explains this to her listening students as she weaves sound and video recording wires into soft, thick hair.

No one in Mist will suspect quiet, blind, pretty little Hinata-chan.

11. Kunoichi have a little bit too much fun when their male counterparts must go where they cannot. As much fun as they have making the boys into pretty-boy prostitutes, they have even more fun completely screwing with gender roles.

Tenten and Hinata are simply awful about this.

They've got Neji to torment.

12. The dolls kunoichi grow up playing with are life-sized, anatomically correct, and stuffed with straw. The lucky girls have parents who will use chakra to move the dolls, so that their daughters have some practise throwing things at moving targets.

Ino was the luckiest of all the little kunoichi-to-be. She got to use real, living people as dolls.

13. There are many, many laws protecting kunoichi. One of the most important (and annoying, to the older families) is Sydarki's Law.

Sydarki's Law says that a kunoichi who has been raped cannot be disowned, disinherited, or shamed.

14. Some kunoichi like to pretend to forget their gender. They like to be just one of the guys, to not be special, different, or better because they've got boobs. Anko is terrible about this.

Truth is, kunoichi are special, different, and better.

They're the only ones who can even begin to handle what they do.

15. There is no such think as maternity leave for kunoichi. No mother is a kunoichi, just as no kunoichi is a mother. A few may take a break, have kids, come back. Most just drop out completely. Yes, they are still ninja, but they aren't kunoichi anymore. It is rather difficult to divorce themselves from emotions. The children learn to live with it, though.

It's a harsh truth, but then, so's reality.

16. To be kunoichi, one must have no shame. Kunoichi flirt, dance, sing, and strip for secrets. To them, sex is a tool. Many have escaped certain death by the entrancing power of cleavage and doe eyes. Others have simply poison the target while giving him a blow-job.

Still others, the really, really gutsy ones, simply bite it off. It takes a man about three minutes to bleed out.

17. The above fact is true because it is a woman's world. Men are weak to their charms, and they know it.

Pity the man who doesn't understand this.

18. To be kunoichi, you must have flexibility and you must have speed. This means more than being able to bend and run (though those are required, as well). It means being able to think in fifteen directions at once. It means being able to do it in the split-second you are given.

And, if your ability to bend and run helps you get that last piece of chocolate, no one will blame you.

Except maybe your fellow kunoichi.

19. To be kunoichi, you must have stability. It doesn't have to be in yourself, but you must have it from someone or somewhere. Stability is very important. It holds you down, tethers you to earth, even as it gives you the wings to fly. For kunoichi, there must be stability. They are each other's stability.

Kurenai holds Anko when she cries.

20. The truth is, kunoichi are different. They are better. They are special. It takes a special kind of person to be a ninja, and an even more special kind to be kunoichi. True, kunoichi gain a lot: the respect of their peers, the respect of their betters, entrance into a secret sisterhood. But they lose a lot, too. They lose the chance to live, to feel, to be human. Kunoichi struggle to stay human even as they fight by killing that part of them that still feels. This shared pain brings them all together, a close-knit band of sisters that will never part. Strength has an unseen beauty.

No man will ever understand this.


End file.
